If HR is a BIG Body of Water, can I Just Get a CUP of it?

Why does HR matter? What do I need to know?

I love HR! That may be a jarring statement to some. Here's a translation that may make sense to you: I LOVE PEOPLE! Sound better? HR is working with people. HR is a description that puts some people in a fetal position under their desks. In fact, I think we should change the name and how we think about HR to EX (Employee Experiences) but that's a different blog for a different day.

What I wanted to share today is a"cup" from large body of water that is HR. Why does HR matter? What do you need to know about HR. And some of the recent changes that you should know about.

Why does HR Matter?

The short version: HR matters because it involves government laws and you want to be on the right side of the law. There have been many laws passed in the United States over the last 100 years or so and if you aren't compliant with those laws, it can cause more trouble than you want. That's the legal side - kind of the analytical unemotional left brain of HR. The creative emotional right brain of HR matters too. There are HR best practices, initiatives and domains that will help your work environment blossom with happiness, creativity, alignment, effectiveness, ease and productivity. Imagine two companies, one with and one without a strong onboarding process, quarterly goals, mission, vision and value statements, a management team who sets a positive example, a training program and a performance compensation program. I would expect the company with all those things to function better than the one without. Which would you prefer to join?

“The employee headcount of an organization matters when looking through an HR lens.”

What do I need to know about HR?

There is one question that is a very useful lens to start to answer the question what do I need to know: how many employees do you have? The employee headcount of an organization matters when looking through an HR lens. There are employment laws that create requirements of the business if you have one employee but most employment laws kick in with other employee levels: 15, 50 and 100 are important lines that when crossed, new requirements kick in. Of course it's not that simple and there are many other inputs but number of employees is one of the most important. If you are about to cross one of those lines and you don't have in house expertise with what is required or how to execute on the requirements, you should act. Head to the internet and do some research, call a hotline or bring in an HR expert. The cost will be worth it. What do they say? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. True in HR.

“HR is a BIG body of water. It's beautiful and daunting at the same time and if you have in house expertise or bring on external expertise, the daunting part turns to doable. ”

Any recent changes in the HR world?

Why yes! Recently, there were two changes most employees and companies should know. First, there is a new rule issued from the U.S. Department of Labor that takes effect on January 1, 2020. Employees who make less than $35,568 are now eligible for overtime pay. Good to know right? You can read more about this here. Second, the IRS has raised 401k contribution limits to $19,500/year for 2020. The "catch up" contribution limit increased $500 to $6,500/year. You can read more about this increase here.

Conclusion

It's true! HR is a BIG body of water. It's beautiful and daunting at the same time and if you have in house expertise or bring on external expertise, the daunting part turns to doable. HR Stream would love to be your source for HR expertise via consulting (need a gap analysis?), on site fractional leadership (on site for a day or two each week) or via a full time contract role for an HR Generalist or Recruiter. Stream the HR expertise you need.